


Down to Business

by blynninja



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Gen, Mulan AU, Other, Title Subject to Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 20:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10704684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blynninja/pseuds/blynninja
Summary: "Many hours later, having hacked her father’s paperwork (and the Garrison’s database in general) and cutting her hair short enough to pass for a boy, Katie prepared herself to enter the Garrison dining hall for breakfast.Miles away, her parents woke to find their daughter gone and a note of apology in the frame on her father’s nightstand that usually held a family photograph."





	1. To Defeat the Galra

**Author's Note:**

> Fudge. I saw a post paralleling Mulan and Pidge. And then I had to write it, of course.  
> AU, obvs. 
> 
> Does Mrs. Holt have a name? Someone named her Abigail and I kinda like that.
> 
> I have something like 5000-6000 words typed for this AU and I hope it makes sense. There's still more to write, but I've been sitting on this thing for close to a year (since July) and wanted to get it out somewhere. I don't exactly have a schedule planned for this thing, so bear with me.

The doorbell rang as they were finishing dinner, and her father stood to go answer it, commenting that they hadn’t been expecting anyone.

“Commander Holt,” the red-haired man at the door greeted him, sticking out a hand to shake. “I am Coran, advisor and councilor to Empress Allura.”

“Councilor, of course,” Katie’s father replied happily, reaching to shake the man’s hand and invite him inside.

“What brings you to our home this evening?”

“Well, as you probably know, we have been training new cadets at the Garrison,” Coran began, and Commander Holt nodded thoughtfully.

“They are nearing the second half of their training, and we are preparing them for missions that will likely begin in just a few months, as Galra forces have been sighted a few systems over and seem to be headed for us. We were hoping that you would come and assess the cadets and perhaps join one of the units on a mission, given your past experience with the Galra.”

Commander Holt was silent for a moment, and then nodded affirmatively, replying, “Of course. I would be honored to assist in any way I can.”

“Wonderful! Empress Allura was hoping that would be your answer. Please look over the paperwork and make sure everything is in order before you arrive at the Garrison,” Coran instructed, holding out a stack of papers.

“Thank you, Councilor,” Commander Holt replied, accepting the paperwork and bowing just slightly before he escorted Coran to the door.

“Dad, no!” Katie hissed, standing indignantly as he returned to the table, only to be shushed by her mother.

“But—”

“No ‘buts,’ Katie. Your father is respected commander in the Galaxy Garrison. It is his honor to go on another mission with them.”

“But they never—” Katie began, only to be interrupted by her father’s stern look.

Closing her mouth, she stifled a growl and turned on her heel, heading for her room.

Her mother’s sigh followed her down the hallway, and her father spoke quietly, though Katie could still hear.

“Don’t be too harsh with her, Colleen. She’s still angry about my last mission, remember. I’ll talk to her before I leave.”

Katie paused for long enough to hear her mother ask, “When do they expect you to report?”

“Tomorrow night,” her father replied, and Katie scowled, trying to come up with a way to keep him from the dangers of another mission as she slammed her door closed.

The last time her dad had gone on a mission to “scout” the Galra for the Garrison (and, by extension, the kingdom in which they operated), he had come home scarred and malnourished, and _without_ her brother, who had also been on the mission.

They’d never recovered Matt’s body, which had made Katie incredibly suspicious. The Garrison had claimed that they had looked everywhere, but Katie had hacked their records and discovered that they had given up the search after only a few days.

That had made her angry, and determined to find out what had _really_ happened to Matt. She had spent hours poring over any file she could get her hands on, going so far as to confront the base commander face to face, resulting in a lifetime ban from the premises.

She hadn’t given up her search, but the fact that the commander knew her face and that she was looking had hindered her somewhat.

 _If only there were a way to get back into the base and find out more,_ she had lamented on numerous occasions.

And now, remembering her father’s paperwork, Katie smiled grimly and formed a plan.

-

Many hours later, having hacked her father’s paperwork (and the Garrison’s database in general) and cutting her hair short enough to pass for a boy, Katie prepared herself to enter the Garrison dining hall for breakfast.

Miles away, her parents woke to find their daughter gone and a note of apology in the frame on her father’s nightstand that usually held a family photograph.

Her mother was frantic.

“Sam, you have to go and get her back!”

“I can’t, Colleen. They’ll find out, or at least suspect, who she truly is, and she’ll probably never find out what happened to Matt.”

Abigail Holt broke into tears at the thought of losing both of her children as Sam whispered, “Good luck, Katie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Edit October 2018: I finally changed Abigail to Colleen because canon.)


	2. You're the Saddest Bunch I Ever Met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge has "his" first introduction to some of his fellow cadets, and their Lt Commander.

The dining hall was crowded, buzzing with cadets eager to begin more advanced training to bring the fight to the Galra.

Katie—Pidge, she reminded herself forcefully—walked as confidently as she could through the room full of people, having dropped her paperwork off in the main offices upon her arrival last night.

She’d been apprehensive that the woman taking her forms would see through her disguise, but everything had gone smoothly. She had even received the private, single room she’d requested in the files, claiming that Pidge needed his own room for “health reasons.” She hadn’t elaborated, and the woman hadn’t asked, which had been a major relief.

They also hadn’t questioned Pidge’s late entry (transfer, she reminded herself) into the Garrison, so his scores and physical paperwork must have all checked out.

She’d spent the night trying and failing to fall asleep, wondering what her parents were thinking and half expecting her mother to burst in demanding she come home.

Her father would understand, Katie had reasoned, and would convince her mother that it was best to leave her to her plan, half-baked as it might seem.

Sighing, “Pidge” stepped into line behind a trio of boys who looked like they already knew each other well, judging by their bickering and the way they shoved at each other to reach the plates on the buffet before them.

She took a step back, hoping to stay out of their way, and ended up tripping on her own feet, landing face-first in the one boy’s oatmeal.

“Hey!” he shrieked, yanking his tray back as Katie removed her face from the bowl of peaches and cream.

“Watch where you’re going!” the boy continued, glaring at her.

“Sorry,” Katie replied quickly, inspecting her (or rather, Matt’s) glasses. Good thing she had brought several pairs—she praised herself for that foresight.

The boy wasn’t having any of her apology, though, as he shoved his tray back under nose, exclaiming, “You ruined my oatmeal!”

Katie swatted the tray away, indicating her glasses. “Your oatmeal almost ruined my glasses.”

The boy’s eyes went wide and he turned to the one in front of him, who was looking completely uninterested in what was happening behind him in the line.

“Keith!” he whined, pointing at his bowl. “This kid just ruined my breakfast, and he’s trying to tell me that it’s MY fault!”

Katie frowned, prepared to correct him, but the boy in front of them snorted.

“Stop whining and go get a new bowl, Lance. It’s not that hard.”

“But he ruined my breakfast!” Lance insisted, pointing to Katie, who by this point had crossed her arms and assumed the look that Matt had always used when he hadn’t believed her stories.

“What’s going on back here?” asked the third boy, who had already loaded two trays with breakfast and seemed to be heading to a table. Katie hadn’t even seen him get ahead of them in line.

“Hunk!” Lance wailed, lifting his tray for the taller boy’s consideration. “This little kid _ruined_ my breakfast!”

Hunk ( _More like Hulk,_ Katie thought bemusedly) leaned down toward Lance’s bowl, sniffing it curiously.

“Well if you don’t want to eat it, I sure will!” he offered, grinning.

Lance looked scandalized. “But it’s ruined! He got his glasses and his _face_ in there!”

Katie bristled, standing taller. “And just what is wrong with my face?”

“Come on, guys, you’re holding up the line,” Keith pointed out, gesturing to the people behind them. Some looked annoyed, some seemed to be considering cutting in line, and several looked giddy at the thought of a fight.

“But he ruined my oatmeal!” Lance howled, causing Katie to cover her ears.

Having set down his trays at some point in the last minute, Hunk sighed heavily and pulled Lance’s bowl off the tray before taking a new one from the stack and wordlessly filling it with more of the peaches and cream oatmeal. This done, Hunk set the bowl back on Lance’s tray, only for Lance to begin protesting again.

Keith groaned and yanked Lance away from the buffet line, muttering about how Lance would be back for thirds later anyway.

Katie blinked, watching as they walked away, not sure what had just happened.

“Um...” The kid behind her poked her in the shoulder and Katie nearly jumped a foot before she stammered an apology and hurried through the breakfast line, not even caring what she piled onto her tray.

She intended to sit as far away from the trio of boys as possible, but it turned out that theirs was one of the only tables with empty seats, and Hunk snagged her arm as she passed, indicating the seat next to him.

Pidge sighed, glancing meaningfully at Lance, but Hunk only shrugged and nearly yanked her down into the seat.

“What’s your name, little man?” the larger boy asked, grinning at her.

“Um, Pidge,” Katie started carefully, picking up her fork.

“Pidge? What kind of name is _that_?” Lance asked mockingly from across the table, clearly still upset over his stupid oatmeal.

“I used to chase pigeons around the park, so my parents started calling me Pidge. It just kind of stuck,” Katie explained quickly, having worked that story out on the ride to the base.

“What’s your _real_ first name, then?” Lance pressed, waving his spoon in the air.

Katie faltered for a second, having not come up with an answer for that one yet, and sputtered, “P-P-Paige!”

That sort of fit, and Katie thanked her lucky stars that she’d pored over so many name origins during her fanfiction-writing phase.

Lance spat out the bite of oatmeal he’d just taken, laughing so hard Katie thought he’d choke.

“PAIGE? That’s a _girl’s_ name!” he howled, doubled over in his seat as other tables turned to see what was so funny.

“It is _not_!” Katie protested, feeling slightly offended. “It’s a variation of a Middle English name that was derived from Greek! It’s a perfectly legitimate unisex name!”

Lance just spluttered with laughter as Katie seethed, knowing that stabbing him with her fork was _not_ acceptable, no matter how good it would feel.

“What is going on over here, gentlemen?” 

Katie vaguely recognized the voice, and turned to find Lieutenant Commander Shirogane, who everyone called Shiro when speaking of him, standing behind her, his arms crossed as he watched Lance.

Katie froze, hoping that Shiro didn’t look too closely at her, for fear he might recognize her.

Shiro had been on her father’s mission when Matt had gone missing. Like her father, Shiro had come back from the mission looking somewhat worse for wear, and with a prosthetic arm, but evidently his experience had spurred him to new goals. Katie had read that he’d completed his training to become LT commander much more quickly than anyone before him.

And now he was standing right behind her, and if he remembered Sam or Matt Holt after the trauma of their experiences together, he might find that “Pidge” looked strangely familiar.

“Cadets,” Shiro said sharply, causing Lance to stop laughing and look up, serious now.

“Yes, Lieutenant!”

“What is going on over here?” Shiro repeated, shifting his weight onto his other foot.

Lance looked ready to laugh again, but kept his composure as he explained hastily, “Pidge fell in my oatmeal and then Hunk made him sit with us and he told us his real name is _Paige!_ That’s not even a boy’s name!”

Katie heard the sigh leave Shiro’s lips as the senior officer took a moment to process Lance’s story.

“Gunderson.”

Katie jumped at the use of her alias, turning slightly to ask, “Yes, Lieutenant?”

“Did you fall into McClain’s oatmeal for a specific reason?”

Katie could tell from his tone that Shiro was only asking to humor Lance, and she replied quickly, “Not really, sir. I tripped in line.”

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose as he addressed Lance next: “McClain, stop laughing. And don’t be a jerk. Gunderson is new to this Garrison. I expect you all to welcome _all_ of our transfer cadets.”

“Yes, sir!” Lance responded immediately, his hand snapping to his forehead in a salute.

Shiro gave a small sigh and addressed Pidge again.

“Gunderson, try not to trip into anyone else’s meals.”

“Yes, sir, I’ll try,” Katie replied quietly, nodding sharply.

“All right, then. Training begins in 15 minutes. I expect you all to be ready.”

“Yes, sir!” the room at large replied in unison, most hands snapping into salutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know a ton about military terms, despite my father's background in the Navy and trying to teach me terms and stuff. Heh. I didn't want to make Shiro a general because that didn't seem quite right. IDK. Maybe ranks are different in future/AU Altea.


	3. But You Can Bet Before We're Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Training begins. Not sure of titles. Might adjust them later.

Training began promptly fifteen minutes later, with a course on battle tactics.

Surprisingly, Pidge wasn’t the only one who knew many of the answers—Keith had quite a lot to say on the subject, as well.

Shiro praised them both in a slightly more subdued manner than many others would have, but Katie still beamed back at him, and Keith even smiled a little bit.

Next up was sparring, at which Pidge struggled just a bit. She was small and agile, certainly, but she also lacked a lot of the physical force necessary to take down an opponent. That first course was a rough one, with many of the other cadets laughing at her attempts to spar with Lance, who smirked the entire time.

Only Hunk had as difficult a time with it as Pidge had, with his larger stature causing him some issues and giving the others plenty of places to aim jabs and kicks.

Thankfully the next thing they began studying was a subject in which Katie already excelled: technology. Shiro had them hacking, decoding, and translating old Galran messages for practice like there was no tomorrow, and Pidge’s fingers flew over the keys, much to the other cadets’ surprise and dismay.

It earned her a fair amount of teasing from the others in her class, particularly Lance, who came up with a not-so-pleasant nickname that stuck instead of dying out.

So it went, day after day: training, classes, teasing from the others. (Except Hunk, who went out of his way to be extra nice to her, probably to make up for Lance’s rudeness.)

Until one day, a few weeks into training.

Shiro stood facing the class in the main training area, declaring, “We’re going to try something new today.”

He gestured to the giant wooden post behind him, and then waved Coran, Empress Allura’s advisor, forward. 

Pidge had learned early on to not engage Coran in conversation, because once you got him talking, he almost never shut up. He made a decent advisor, though—Katie could see why Empress Allura had chosen him, even if she did still want to punch him for basically forcing her father to return to the Garrison. (Which Coran hadn’t questioned, so the story she had created in Sam’s profile as to his absence must have held up to scrutiny.)

The advisor was struggling under the weight of the box in his arms, and Pidge frowned, thinking.

When Coran had set the box down at Shiro’s feet, the Lieutenant pulled from his pocket a small device that had everyone staring and mumbling under their breath. 

Without warning, Shiro whipped the device toward the post, and the small drone perched itself on the top.

Smiling, Shiro turned to the box at his feet, pulling from it two weights on strings.

“This,” he said, indicating the first weight, “is strength. This,” and here he indicated the second, “is intellect. You’ll need both of them to reach the drone.”

Smirking slightly, Shiro called, “McClain!”

Lance snapped to attention. “Yes, sir!”

“You’re going first. Retrieve the drone.”

Lance squared his shoulders, determined, and took the weights from Shiro, observing the post before leaping at it.

The weights hindered him, and he made it only partway up the post before he fell back to the ground, groaning and demanding a second chance as Shiro shook his head and waved Keith forward.

Keith made it about a foot higher than Lance had, to Lance’s great dismay, but he fell, too, groaning. Lance made fun of him for it until a look from Shiro shut him up.

Hunk went next, and his size worked against him, not even letting him reach as high as Lance had. He slid back down to the ground with a defeated moan.

The others lined up, and Pidge slipped to the back of the line, taking the time to analyze what each cadet had done well and why each had failed.

By the time it was her turn, she had a plan, and took the weights from Shiro with a grin.

He regarded Pidge curiously, one eyebrow raised, and steadied her as she toppled under the weights.

But Katie shrugged off the concern in his eyes, stepping up to the post, a determined set to her jaw.

Carefully, she wrapped the weights around the post, above her head, and pulled herself upward.

The quiet from behind her told her that the others were watching closely, and Katie grinned to herself, continuing to pull herself upward and alternately shoving the weights up above her head. Her previous weeks of training had made her limbs stronger, for which she was grateful, especially now.

When she made it to the top, Pidge took a moment to catch her breath and turned to look at the others.

They were a long way down, and Pidge thanked her lucky stars that she had never developed a fear of heights.

Lance looked the most upset, with the other cadets giving her looks that ranged from annoyed to impressed.

Hunk was grinning, and even Keith was maybe smiling at her, though it was hard to tell from up here.

Shiro looked the most impressed, she noted, the smile on his face wider than Hunk’s.

“Since you were the first to reach the top, you can keep that drone,” Shiro called with a grin, and Pidge reached to take it from its spot.

“Hi, little guy. I’m gonna call you Rover,” she grinned at it, pocketing the drone.

“He made it to the top, but can he get back _down_?” came Lance’s mocking question from below, and Katie scowled at him.

Shiro tilted his head at her, a question on his face, and Pidge sighed before sliding back down the pole slowly and carefully, landing with a triumphant grin.

Lance gaped at her as Shiro just smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't have a great explanation for why Sam wasn't there, nor do I have a good terrible nickname that Lance makes up. Sorry.


	4. Heed My Every Order

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to infiltrate the Galra fleet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the shortest thing and I can't figure a way to make it longer to my satisfaction so I'm leaving it at this little drabble. I will make it up to you, I swear.

Today was the day they’d waited for: the day Shiro would assign them units and they would start their push toward the Galra alliance that had stationed itself just miles from the Garrison and, by extension, the palace.

Hundreds of cadets crowded anxiously in the main hall, waiting to hear the unit announcements. The tension was palpable, and Pidge sighed as she fidgeted next to Hunk, who chuckled lightly at her.

“Hey, relax, Pidge,” the bigger boy grinned. “I’m sure you’re assigned to an important unit!”

Pidge sighed heavily, ceasing her finger-tapping as Shiro appeared on the stage, holding a stack of papers in his left hand.

She tuned everything out until Shiro announced his own unit: “With me in the infiltration unit will be McClain, Kogane, and Garrett.”

Pidge barely heard who her unit was supposed to be, too busy balking at his omission of Gunderson.

Surely he was needed on the infiltration? Pidge was the best of the group with coding and hacking and Galran tech--Shiro had said so himself last week.

Why was Pidge not on Shiro’s mission?

She wanted to ask, but before she was able, they were dispersing to their ships, and Katie made a split-second decision.

Before long she was sneaking onboard the ship that Shiro himself was piloting, determined to be of help to him—and find answers about her brother in the process, hopefully.

Shiro was, understandably, Not Happy when he discovered Gunderson on his ship.

Or rather, when Hunk found Gunderson while, in his quest to find space for his snacks, practically running over Pidge’s feet.

_“Holy crow! Pidge?!”_

Lance and Keith rushed over, Keith gaping and Lance cackling at Gunderson’s “balls” and then shifting to serious mode over how much trouble Pidge would be in.

“I can help!” Pidge argued after Shiro gave her a pointed look and asked, “Is this your unit, Gunderson?”

Hunk stood fidgeting nearby and glancing between Pidge and Shiro, like he was watching a tennis match.

“Um,” the bigger boy cleared his throat finally, raising his hand tentatively.

“Yes, Garrett?” Shiro asked with a sigh, looking to the mechanic.

“Well, sir, I, uh…” Hunk wavered, ping-ponging between them again as Pidge looked at him hopefully.

“Spit it out, Garrett,” Shiro said quickly, and Hunk’s eyes snapped back to him.

“I think Gunderson could be helpful. Sir,” Hunk yelped quickly, wincing as he finished his statement and waited for Shiro’s response.

Keith was looking on carefully, considering the situation, while Lance grinned hopefully at Pidge, putting in, “You did say he was the best at translations and tech last week, Lieutenant.”

“And hacking,” Hunk added.

“And he’s small and agile enough to stay out of the way in a fight and provide cover,” Keith supplied thoughtfully.

Shiro looked very carefully at each of the trio in succession, considering their comments, and then sighed.

“Fine. But you stay out of the way until we need you, got that, Gunderson?”

Pidge nodded vigorously, grinning and saluting.

“You’ve got it, sir!”

“Don’t make me regret this, gentlemen,” Shiro warned as he returned to the cockpit, and Pidge shared a look with the boys as they continued their approach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be longer!  
> Thank you to everybody who's reading this and leaving kudos!!


	5. And You Might Survive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Infiltration and shenanigans and such.

They infiltrated the main Galra ship quietly and efficiently, staying as quiet as was possible in a tense situation. 

Katie frowned as Hunk yelped quietly under his breath, startled by a noise somewhere.

Shiro paused for the briefest of moments to spare Hunk a glance, and the bigger boy sighed and winced apologetically.

Keith rolled his eyes and Lance shoved Hunk forward, urging him quietly to refocus.

They prowled the halls quickly, Shiro on the alert in point position, checking around corners to be sure there were no enemy Galra before they continued down corridors.

When they reached what Pidge took to be a central communication hub, she paused, ignoring Shiro's concerned glance.

"I'll just be a second," she promised, stepping into the room carefully, watchful for Galra.

The room was surprisingly devoid of people, and Katie filed that tidbit of information away to ponder when she had done what she needed to do.

Shiro hissed at her, but Hunk prodded his arm, gesturing to something down the hall, and Shiro sighed.

"Garret, stay with Gunderson. McClain, Kogane, you're with me."

"Yes, sir," the boys chorused quietly, Hunk stepping warily into the room behind Katie, who acknowledged his presence with a glance.

She continued to scour the Galra databases for anything helpful, saving anything remotely useful onto the data pad she'd brought along, determined to find something of note about her brother and, perhaps, more about her father's treatment when he'd been captured, as much as the thought hurt. She needed to know, and he wasn't forthcoming.

Hunk made a strange noise, almost strangled, and Katie turned to see him slumping to the ground, his blaster slipping from his hands.

The Galra behind him smirked, sizing her up.

"They sent a child?" he sneered, and Katie froze, not daring to take her eyes off of the man-looking alien.

He stood arrogantly, holding a sword in one hand as he stared at her.

Katie's mind raced--she'd seen this man's picture before; why couldn't she remember his name?

"Zarkon will be pleased to hear that I have captured not one but two of Empress Allura's lackeys," the man continued, pleased with himself.

Katie reached for her satchel, opening the zipper just enough to let Rover loose. The drone floated warily next to her, obeying the prompts from the app she'd created on the data pad to give it direction.

The man--Haxus, Katie realized, finally placing his face--frowned as he regarded the drone.

"And just what are you going to do with that, child?" he scoffed, and Katie could tell he thought her incompetent or scared.

Katie touched a couple of buttons on her data pad and Rover flew to Hunk's side, scanning the older boy's body. She watched the vital readouts carefully, relieved that Hunk was still alive, at least.

Haxus scowled, poking Hunk with a boot, and scoffed, "Your friend wasn't much match for me, despite his size."

Katie stayed quiet, glancing at the other tab on her data pad, the one gathering intel on her family. It had gathered enough. She closed the program, satisfied she had what she needed for now.

Haxus scowled, seemingly annoyed at her lack of response, and swatted at Rover, who swerved out of the way at a touch of Katie's fingers.

Katie frowned, assessing the situation: her companion, laid out on the floor and too heavy for her to carry by herself; her leader and two others who-knew-where, not responding to the code she was tapping out against her communications watch. They each had one, and should have been receiving her message, but nothing so far.

That wasn't necessarily surprising, as they were probably preoccupied, but surely one of them would respond, right?

Katie tamped down on the panic rising in her chest as she kept tapping discretely, watching Haxus carefully.

Neither of them had moved in the last few moments, and that was beginning to make her anxious.

What was the next move?

Haxus had grown tired of waiting, apparently, for he lunged at her with a shout, baring teeth as his sword flashed in the purple light of the communications hub.

Katie dodged, tapping the command for Rover to defend as she scrambled to grab the small grappling hook that Shiro had handed over after realizing Pidge didn't have a weapon on him as they'd approached the Galra ship. He'd assured Pidge that the grappling hook would be easy to handle and would get him out of a jam, and Katie was eager to test that theory, adrenaline surging as Haxus batted Rover aside and kept coming for her.

Katie scowled, raising the grappling hook above Haxus's head and sending it flying toward the ceiling.

Haxus looked unimpressed--until she flew over his head, landing behind him.

There was no time for triumph, as Haxus quickly regrouped and turned smoothly on his heel, heading back for her again.

Katie braced for the attack, dodging out of the way at the last moment and sliding underneath Haxus's legs, catching him with her hook and pulling it tight as she slid to a step several feet away.

Haxus scowled at the tether and made to slash through it, but Katie yanked hard, pulling the soldier off-balance so that he toppled toward the edge of the catwalk they'd ended up on.

Haxus's eyes went wide as he stumbled, and if he hadn't been impressed before, now he was just angry.

Katie allowed herself to smirk briefly before yanking once more on the tether and letting it go as Haxus stumbled closer to the ledge, panic now evident on his face.

Rover hovered nearby, beeping triumphantly, and Haxus caught hold of the drone.

Katie's blood froze in her veins as Haxus managed to keep his balance by hanging onto her drone.

Frantically she searched the commands she'd programmed into Rover, trying to find one to get it out of this predicament.

There wasn't one, and Katie gaped helplessly at Rover, watching as it beeped and then went silent, overriding any command she could have given it, to shut down.

Haxus fell over the ledge, but so did the drone, and Katie lunged to try to save the piece of tech, but wasn't fast enough.

Her glasses fell off in the process of leaning over the edge, and she was much too slow to save those, as well, adding to her frustration with herself.

She fought tears as she bid the little drone goodbye, and then rushed over to Hunk, stunned to find that Lance had materialized at the big guy's side sometime in the last few minutes.

Lance sat gaping at her, clutching Hunk's hand.

“What?” She asked, glancing between him and Hunk, whose breathing was labored but otherwise all right.

“The way you just—” Lance gestured toward the ledge and Katie kept her eyes on Hunk, not wanting to look back at the spot.

“Is he stable?” Shiro asked, stepping over, and Katie nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to look at him.

Keith was standing just behind Shiro and Katie realized she hadn’t noticed either of them come into the room, either. Either they were incredibly stealthy or she’d been too distracted.

“Yeah, I think he’s stable. I scanned him earlier and he was all right. Just knocked out,” she reported quickly, watching Shiro frown.

Making a quick decision, Shiro stepped over and hefted Hunk to his feet, practically carrying the bigger boy, and commanded, “Kogane, take point. McClain, watch our backs.”

Pidge blinked as Lance and Keith took up their positions and Shiro turned to Pidge.

“Gunderson?”

“You didn’t give me a position,” she pointed out, frowning.

“Stick close,” Shiro said quickly, nodding to the passed-out Hunk, and Katie scurried to help support his weight as they headed into the corridor.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Shiro asked, and Katie blinked.

“What?”

“The communication hub. You must have been looking for something. Find it?”

“Oh. Yeah, I think so. And I left a couple of things, too,” Katie replied proudly.

Shiro glanced over Hunk’s head at her, curious, and Katie held up a finger, indicating that he should listen.

Several loud shouts echoed through the corridors as the lights on the ship went out and Katie winced briefly.

“I thought we’d be closer to our ship before that happened. Think we can speed up at all?”

“You heard him, gentlemen: double time,” Shiro ordered, and Lance and Keith started running, Shiro and Katie dragging Hunk along as fast as they could.

“Anything else I need to know about?” Shiro asked, and Katie smiled awkwardly.

“I may have rigged the system to blow up in a few minutes.”

“Keith, think you can triple time it?” Lance hollered, keeping his eyes trained behind them as Keith sped up more and kept glancing back and forth for Galra.

“Well, that’s interesting, because we set a couple of charges in the corridors earlier that should go by the time we get to the ship,” Shiro informed her, taking nearly all of Hunk’s weight now as Katie began to fall behind.

“Well, how about that,” Katie commented, smiling. “Great minds think alike.”

They made it to their ship without incident, luckily enough, always just missing being seen by Galra running down nearby corridors.

Almost as soon as they were back in the air, Zarkon’s ship blew up, and several of the others nearby began to go down as well thanks to the bug Katie had planted in the whole system: it had been programmed to affect each ship in turn, and she was quite proud of Pidge’s handiwork.

The cheer that went up in their ship was nearly deafening, and the boys began high-fiving and ignoring Shiro’s eye rolling.

They had a lot to celebrate, Pidge figured. They had just taken out the entire present Galra fleet in a matter of minutes.

She couldn’t wait to get back to base and see everyone’s reactions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much longer chapter, and you get it now because the last one was so stinkin' short.  
> Also because I go out of town this weekend and won't be able to post for close to two weeks.  
> Shout out to Fighter's Block writing app thingy for making this chapter extra-long. That little avatar fighting the little monsters is too cute.  
> I wanted this to be kind of like when Mulan launches the cannon into the avalanche, but keep the idea of Pidge's bayard and Haxus and losing Rover, so I kind of combined them??? I hope it makes sense????


	6. Pack Up, Go Home, You're Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge gets found out and sent home.

“Well done, Shirogane! Empress Allura will be pleased to hear of how your unit crippled Zarkon’s army!” Coran praised as they exited the hangar, a group of Garrison staff waiting just beyond the threshold, probably for debriefing.

Katie didn’t even realize that Commander Iverson was among the group until she passed him and his eyes went wide in recognition and he grabbed her arm.

“You!” Iverson spat, and Coran flinched backward at the volume of the commander’s shout.

“Commander,” Katie acknowledged coolly, watching him carefully. Apparently losing Matt’s glasses had changed her appearance enough that he recognized her.

“This is Commander Holt’s daughter! She’s been sneaking in here and hacking us for _months!_ ” Iverson raved. “She’s been _banned_ from the premises!”

A couple of cadets rushed forward to grab Pidge, likely to haul her out of the building.

“Please! I did it to find my brother!” Katie cried, glancing frantically around the group that had gathered in the hall.

Shiro paused to look at her, like he was finally realizing who she was.

“Katie?” he asked quietly, his eyebrows twitching into a frown, as though he was scrutinizing her face.

“Shiro, please! I need to find out what happened to Matt!”

At Matt’s name, Shiro froze, turning to look at her fully.

“Katie?” he asked again, louder this time, his eyes widening.

“Yes, Shiro, it’s Katie,” she replied, exasperated. “I had no other way to find the truth about Matt. I had to sneak in!”

Shiro’s gaze hardened as he considered her explanation, and then he looked to Iverson.

“Let her have the information she wants, and then get her out of here.”

“Shiro, what—”

Shiro turned away, indicating that the others should follow him, which they did, albeit reluctantly.

Hunk, awake again, though not completely back to normal, glanced at her sadly as Lance steered him down the hall after Shiro and Keith, who had spared her a sympathetic glance but then fallen in line behind his Lieutenant.

Katie sighed, defeated, as she stared hard at Iverson, who very reluctantly indicated that she follow him to his office.

Clearly he wanted her gone as soon as possible, but Shiro was one of his top men, and Iverson wouldn’t want to risk Shiro’s anger if he found out the Commander hadn’t done as he’d asked. 

When he had transferred data from his systems to a flash drive and handed it over, he grunted something at her and waved her out of the room, Coran following her very closely but staying quiet.

Katie fought tears as she marched out of the building, knowing they’d either send her stuff back to her or get rid of it, and frankly she didn’t care. She had everything she needed in the satchel over her shoulders, including the flash drive Iverson had given her. She needed nothing from her room, and she just wanted to get out of this place.

On the train home, looking through the information, she stumbled across something that made her heart stop for a moment: the Galra had medical pods and procedures that could bring people back to life.

She was certain that was what they’d do for Sendak and Haxus and their crew, if they found them—they would certainly go looking, and who knew what kinds of precautionary measures the ships had for emergency cases. Probably some of the crew had escaped in smaller pods or ships and the Garrison teams hadn’t noticed or taken care of them.

It was only a matter of time before the Galra tried another attack, and it appeared their endgame was Empress Allura. Katie couldn’t let that happen.

Determined, she waited until the next stop and then got off the train, transferring to one headed back toward the Garrison and the castle at the center of the complex.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive, I swear! I've had a crazy couple of weeks with my trip and having to make up a bunch of hours at work this week. Thought I'd upload a chapter tonight, and while I'm not 100% proud of it, it's been sitting for a while and I tweaked it a little bit tonight. I hope I'm keeping continuity decent through this whole thing, hence the editing...


	7. How Could I Make a Man Out of You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katie shares her findings and gets ... mixed receptions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure about this title, or this chapter, but it's been sitting for a couple of weeks and I figure I can't adjust it too much at the moment so might as well post it.

She found Shiro and Iverson in Iverson’s office, debating about something, and walked right in, ignoring Iverson’s protest.

“There’s something you need to see.”

She proceeded to pull up the data she’d gathered that Iverson had either missed or dismissed, she hadn’t decided yet. Possibly he hadn’t been able to decipher the meanings of all the schematics, despite being near the top of the Garrison command chain.

His eyes went wide as she explained, but more out of anger than fear.

“Now wait just one minute, Holt,” he began, but Katie was done listening.

“The Galra have pods that can bring people _back to life_! Do you understand what that means if they find Zarkon’s crew’s bodies?” Katie cried, spreading her arms wide. “They’ll bring Haxus and Sendak and all of them back to life and try to attack Empress Allura!”

“The Empress is perfectly safe,” Iverson insisted, scowling as he waved her out of his office, the conversation apparently over.

Katie growled as Shiro sighed and led her out of the office, turning to him to demand, “Well? Are you going to help me save the Empress?”

“You shouldn’t be here. Go home,” Shiro said sternly, glaring.

“You trusted Pidge. Why is Katie any different?” she demanded quietly, staring hard at him.

“Katie. Go. Home.”

“Not until I find out what happened to Matt and make sure Empress Allura is safe,” Katie replied forcefully, crossing her arms.

Shiro’s glare morphed into a mask of pain for a moment before he insisted, “Your brother is gone, Katie. And the Empress will be safe. Go home.”

“I will not. You may have given up on Matt, but I’m not going to stop until I find the truth! And if you won’t help me, I’ll just have to do it myself!”

Turning on her heel, Katie rushed down the hall, ignoring Shiro’s protests behind her.

She headed straight for the next person she figured she could count on: Lance, and by extension, Hunk.

The roommates were exactly where she’d figured they’d be: their room, having a lively debate over video chat with Lance’s siblings that they quickly disconnected, Lance insisting he was right, when Katie walked in.

“Piiiiiidge!” Lance enthused, racing over to high-five her. “What are you doing back here? Didn’t Shiro send you home?”

Katie scowled as she explained, “I found something you guys should see.”

Hunk stepped over to hug her and then asked, “What did you find?”

Katie pulled up the schematics on her tablet, watching Lance’s expression turn confused as Hunk’s smile faded to a look of horror.

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

“No. Way. No freaking way,” Hunk reiterated, staring at her.

“What? What no way?” Lance asked, glancing between them and the tablet.

“The Galra can bring people back to life,” Katie said simply, watching Lance’s eyes go wide.

“WHAT? That’s _awesome_ , Pidge! Do you know how cool that is?!”

Hunk set a hand on Lance’s shoulder and interrupted, “Putting aside the awesome factor, do you think they’ve done this for any of the people we blew up?”

Pidge frowned. “Not sure. But I’m certain if they have, their next goal is Empress Allura. We need to warn her, protect her somehow.”

“Did you tell Shiro?” Lance asked, looking confused again.

“He’s not going to help,” Katie said bitterly, watching Hunk frown.

Lance’s expression turned incredulous in half a second and he exclaimed, “What do you mean, he’s not going to help???”

“I showed him and Iverson the schematics, explained everything to them, and they didn’t believe me and insisted Allura is safe,” Katie replied with a scowl.

“Well that’s stupid,” Hunk declared immediately. “We’ll help you warn the Empress, won’t we, Lance?”

Lance gave a thumbs-up and then a salute, replying, “Of course we will! Just one question.”

He paused for a moment before asking, “How exactly are we going to get to the castle? We’re not allowed to leave without permission.”

“Since when has that ever stopped you?” Hunk snorted, indignant, and Lance scratched the back of his head.

“I guess this is a little different. It’s like, saving the empire.”

“All the more reason to get out of here ASAP,” Katie decided, pulling up a schematic on her tablet.

Quietly, they formed a plan and headed for the hangar.

Knowing the patrol routes Iverson had set up helped, as did Katie’s hacking. They were able to get into a ship and leave the Garrison without anyone even noticing, which Katie attributed partly to luck but mostly to science.

When someone did discover that Hunk and Lance and a pod had gone missing, though, that would pose a problem. 

Katie was hoping that by then they’d have found the Empress and warned her of the danger, but there were no guarantees.


	8. Swift As A Coursing River

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IDK titles, y'all. Obviously I never really planned out the chapters and titles lol. Katie and the boys infiltrate the castle and find a little more than they bargained for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ermagerd, a YEAR? I'm so sorry. It took me forever to come back to this thing, but I have made some progress!

The Galra had already infiltrated Allura’s castle by the time their trio arrived, unfortunately, and Katie nearly swore.

Lance did, and Hunk hissed at him as Katie tapped into the castle’s cameras and a few satellites on her tablet to find a route to the Empress.

Galra heat signatures were, fortunately, just a little bit different from Altean heat signatures, so Katie was able to discern who was where and find a path to the Empress’s most-likely position: the room with the most Galra and one Altean heat signature.

They had to skirt around a few patrols, and Katie used Rover to distract a couple others so they could get through doors, but eventually they made it to the throne room, the door of which stood open just enough to see through.

Empress Allura was being guarded by several Galra, looking none too pleased at being held captive within her own palace walls.

Zarkon himself sat on the throne, a smug grin on his face as he declared something that Katie didn’t hear over the distance between them and Lance’s yelp beside her.

“Shhhhh!” she hissed at him, frantically trying to back away from the door as Hunk backpedaled beside her.

One of the Galra soldiers turned toward the door as the trio rushed around the corner, but he didn’t come out any further to investigate, only closed the door firmly, much to Katie’s relief.

“How are we supposed to get in there and save the Empress?” Lance whispered, frowning as Katie pulled a schematic up on her tablet.

“There’s a large window in the center of the throne room’s ceiling,” she pointed out, thinking quickly.

Hunk caught on just as quickly, eyebrows rising as he said, “We can climb the pillars outside onto the roof, and then get through the window.”

Lance’s frown deepened as he asked, “Isn’t that a pretty long drop? How are we going to get down without killing ourselves?”

Katie scanned the schematic again, then looked around the corridor, eyes going wide as she found a solution.

“Hunk, can you grab some of those drapes?”

Hunk followed her gaze, then grinned as he spotted the thick draperies hanging in front of the windows down the corridor. In minutes, they had taken the drapes off the walls and tied them together to form a long line that was, by Katie’s estimation, long enough to get them to the floor of the throne room.

They had just enough left over to pull themselves up the pillars outside, the way they had with the weights in training. When they reached the top, they secured the drapes to a section of the roof.

Hunk looked nervous as they prepared to descend through the window, but Lance pulled him forward as Katie signaled for them to jump. They crashed through the window, falling until the drapes caught in a bungee effect, and Katie scurried down after them, grateful now for those months of physical training.

Zarkon’s men, though taken by surprise, began rushing toward them, and Katie groaned. She hadn’t accounted for that quick of an attack. Luckily, she and the boys had quicker reflexes now thanks to Shiro’s training and Katie ducked under one of the soldiers’ legs as Lance and Hunk each leaped over soldiers and ran for the Empress.

“Empress Allura!” Hunk gasped, pulling to a stop in front of her as Lance skidded to a halt next to him.

Katie raced to catch up with them, catching Allura by surprise.

“Matthew?”

“What? No, I’m Katie. Matt is my brother.” Katie blinked, frowning.

“No time for chit-chat,” Lance warned. “We’ve gotta get the Empress out of here. Hunk—”

He was interrupted by a crash from the door, and the Galra turned toward it, startled by—

“Shiro!” Katie yelped, eyes widening as the commander stepped into the room, drawing the Galras’ gaze.

He wasn’t holding his weapon, both hands at his sides instead of up in surrender. He didn’t look ready for surrender _or_ a fight, Katie mused. But she knew better.

“Shirogane,” Zarkon intoned from his place on the stolen throne.

Shiro acknowledged Zarkon with a small nod, his eyes filled with rage and determination that Katie could see even from this distance.

“Zarkon,” was her commander’s reply, even and calm.

Lance tensed beside her, ready to pull his weapon. 

Hunk jerked his head in a “no” fashion, pointing to the Empress.

Lance sighed but helped Hunk work at Allura’s bonds, and Katie was glad that Shiro had all of the soldiers’ attention. It seemed odd, but she wasn’t complaining.

Before long they had Allura free, and the Empress regarded them all with frowns.

“We need to get out of here, Your Highness,” Hunk whispered, glancing back to Shiro for a moment before looking to Katie. “Any secret passages or anything?”

Allura glanced around furtively, nodding and whispering, “There’s a hidden door in the wall over there.”

Lance and Hunk exchanged a glance before Hunk set a hand on Allura’s shoulder and steered her that direction, Lance looking back to be sure the Galra were still focused on Shiro.

Katie swatted his arm, but Lance waved her away, insisting that she follow Hunk. Grudgingly, she did, trailing behind them silently through the hidden door.

Lance followed after a moment, making sure the door closed behind him as Hunk and Allura led the way down the passage.

“Your Highness, you called me my brother’s name,” Katie said quietly, frowning. “Do you know Matt?”

She ignored Lance’s hiss to quiet down, glancing down at her schematics and insisting quietly, “There aren’t any Galra life signatures in this area, Lance. We’re safe.”

“Yes, I know Matthew,” Allura replied, and Katie nearly leaped at her. 

“How? Where is he? Is he safe? Is he—”

Lance clapped a hand over her mouth and Katie nearly bit his fingers off until she heard it: voices down the passageway. The blood froze in her veins as Lance shoved her against the passage wall, Hunk pulling Allura in the same direction but a lot more gently.

Allura sighed heavily, gently shoving Hunk’s arms away from her, ignoring his protest.

As the voices got closer, Katie glanced between her tablet and the Empress, who seemed perfectly relaxed, despite Hunk and Lance’s panicked looks.

At first, the voices had overlapped, but as they got closer, Katie could make them out individually, and her heart leapt.

The two people came closer and Katie gasped at what she was seeing.

“Matt?!”

Her brother froze, turned as if in slow motion, and she saw the recognition on his face as he reached for her.

“Katie?” 

She heard Lance and Hunk both suck air, Lance mumbling a curse under his breath as Katie launched herself into Matt’s arms, squeezing as tightly as she dared.

“Matthew,” Allura said before the siblings could say another word, and Matt’s grip on Katie loosened as he acknowledged the Empress.

“Your Majesty,” he replied seriously, his hand flying to his forehead in a salute.

Katie blinked up at him and Matt grinned at her.

“We’ve got a lot of catching up to do, sis.”

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in a timeline/future wherein everyone exists on Altea/Earth/some hybrid and Allura is Empress. The Galaxy Garrison is her military force and the main base sits not far from the castle (similar to how the Lions are within the castle-ship for transport and protection of the castle and themselves when in-hangar). The Galra are advancing on Altea/Earth, and new cadets are being trained all the time at Galaxy Garrison, in hopes that they will be ready for whatever the Galra have planned.   
> So it’s a kingdom, similar to the Dynasty in Mulan, but set in the future instead of the past. Does that make sense?? It kind of does in my head, so I hope it works on paper/screen.


End file.
